Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

My colleague, Deputy Ó Laoghaire, has laid out exactly what needs to be done to address the issues facing schools at this time. I commend parents on their efforts during the lockdown period. I also commend school staff, including teachers, principals, SNAs, caretakers and cleaners, all of whom put in all the work that was necessary to mitigate what was a really stressful and difficult time for children and parents. The main problem we have now, six weeks before schools reopen, is that people have suffered through a period of serious pressure. I cannot say that I have done my fair share in terms homeschooling but I know many parents who put themselves under severe pressure and played an absolute blinder in this regard. I thank the teachers who engaged in online learning and all the rest of it. However, from this point on, we need to focus on ensuring schools can reopen after the summer.

We have already talked about the fact that the moneys allocated to this area are insufficient. We must ensure the money is there for any alterations that need to be made to buildings and to provide schools with the infection control and hygiene paraphernalia and materials that will be required. Schools cannot afford to make up any additional funding shortfalls in this regard along with all the other shortfalls they are making up. I have a particular worry in regard to testing and tracing facilities, an issue I will be bringing up directly with the Minister for Health. Those facilities must be in place across the board, particularly as we open up our schools. The Minister, Deputy Foley, has said she will put everything in place to ensure that schools can not only reopen but stay open. I hope that will be done. We heard this week that a nursing home in Dundalk which, over the past few weeks, was able to get testing turned around in four or five hours, has had two cases during the week where the turnaround time was closer to 48 hours. That issue must be monitored. We all accept that there are extra difficulties to deal with at the moment, but we need to ensure, as schools and other parts of society reopen, that we have adequate testing and tracing procedures in place. That is an absolute necessity if we are to shut down problems as they arise and identify suspected cases quickly and move on. I hope the Minister will chase this matter up and ensure the necessary testing capacity is made available to schools. I will engage with the Minister for Health to ensure the problem is sorted in respect of nursing homes. I referred to a specific nursing home, the Dealgan home in Dundalk, which has a very tragic history. Fortunately, the test results that came back this week were not positive for Covid, but it could have been a lot different. We need to ensure we have all the capacity necessary to safeguard all our citizens, from the youngest to the oldest.

My colleagues and I speak all the time about the need for moneys to be put into particular initiatives such as school completion projects, school breakfast programmes and family interventions and training programmes that are required by both parents and children. These sorts of necessary interventions may be somewhat costly to fund now, but it will cost a lot more in the long run if we fail to do so. If that funding is not available, we will not be able to provide children and their families with the supports they require into the future. These initiatives are vital for children who come from particularly disadvantaged backgrounds and children from families where there is no tradition of going on to apprenticeships or third level. We must give them all the supports that are necessary to enable them to make the journey that will bring benefits for themselves, their families and the wider society. That is an absolute necessity.

Deputy Ó Laoghaire spoke about the digital divide, which was particularly obvious for children who are disadvantaged because of poverty or geography. Even if they had access to the Internet, they did not necessarily have the laptops, iPads or other technology that was required. There were major failings in this regard and they must be addressed if we are to have a level playing field for everybody. If we fail to deliver on this, we will all pay for it in the long run. The divide we are seeing is absolutely unfair.

First and foremost, we must ensure schools can open at the end of August or the beginning of September and that they can stay open. We need clarity in this regard as soon as possible from the Minister and any agencies with which she is dealing. The lack of clarity currently cannot continue. Many parents are at the end of their tether and they would have hoped at this point to have seen exactly what the situation will be in regard to school transport, when their children will be returning to school and how the school day will operate. They need that certainty in order to get on with the rest of their lives in terms of work and all the other things that are impacted by the current situation. For our society to operate properly, we need our schools to be open. I cannot implore the Minister strongly enough to ensure that all the protocols and information people need are provided as quickly as possible. That has been a failing during this period. While many things have been done properly, there has also been a lack of clarity. We must ensure that parents know how and when the schools will reopen. We must have clarity that children will be able to engage in the necessary education in which many of them have fallen behind.

I again commend the parents and the school staff. If not for them, all of this would have been much worse.

See this speech in context